Accidental Love
by ConfusedColumbia26220
Summary: Set after "I Robot, You Jane". Giles happens upon a crying Ms. Calendar. What will happen? ONESHOT. First published Buffy fic. Be honest in your reviews.


Rupert Giles was walking down the hallway of Sunnydale High on his way back to the library from the bathroom. It had been an hour and a half since school was let out. All the students had vanished, and few faculty members remained in the building. The general silence made it easy for him to hear the sound of soft crying coming from one of the classrooms.

Although admittedly socially awkward, he was far from heartless, and was compassionate. As he inched closer to the class, he noticed it belonged to the class, he noticed it belonged to Ms. Calendar - the label above the door was a dead giveaway: _WELCOME TO COMPUTER SCIENCE - THE KEY TO YOUR FUTURE_

He couldn't help but scoff at the sign. Computers were only a ridiculous fad, and he seemed to be the only one who knew it. Still, he was curious. His brow furrowed slightly, knowing the room could only hold one occupant, but puzzled as to why she would be in tears. He hadn't known her very well, but he thought no one deserved to be alone in such a state of distress. Approaching the door, he knocked softly and slowly opened it, peeking his head in. "Ms. Calendar?"

The woman in question jumped from her seat at her desk, hastily wiping her tears, obviously not wantin anyone to see her in her state. When she recognized the librarian she'd helped stop a computer demon standing in her doorway, she stood slowly. "Mr. Giles." Her voice was as steady as she could make it. "What are you doing here? Need help with another computer demon?" She made her way over to him, figuring he wouldn't move any further inside.

"No, not a demon. . ." He hadn't planned at all what he proposed to say, and now he was feeling embarrassed. "I just heard - a-and I thought I - . . .I should leave now, shouldn't I?" He pulled his head back and turned to walk away.

Jenny stopped him by placing a hand over his on the doorknob. "No! D-don't. . ." Her eyes fixed themselves to the floor as she slowly removed her hand from his. "I'm sorry," she stuttered. "That was uncalled for. . ."

"No." Giles stepped fully into the classroom and shut the door behind him. "I just - I - I. . .wanted to ask what's wrong o-or somehow make you feel better."

His stammered announcement only made Jenny lose it again. She shrank away, overcome with tears. He took a hesitant step towards her, for once not knowing the solution to the problem in front of him. He could feel a light pain in his chest at the sight of her in tears, and he couldn't pinpoint exactly why. "L-Let me help you. . ."

Continuing to back away, she shook her head violently. She ended up backing into a wall. "No!" she shrieked. "No! Stop being so damn nice to me - I don't deserve it!"

"Ms. Calendar. . ."

"NO!"

He walked to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, shaking her lightly. "Don't talk like that - what's wrong?"

"Stop it! Stop caring!" She struggled against him. "You're making it worse!"

He held firm. "I want to bloody help you, stop pushing me away!" His voice was harsher than he liked it to be. As if to make up for it, he gently brushed her hair out of her tearstained face.

She blurted her secret, though it came out a scream. "I'm a gypsy!"

"What?" Giles pulled his hands back, a look of confusion taking over his features.

"I'm a gypsy - is that what you wanted to know?! Janna of the Kalderash clan, sent to watch Angelus and make sure he gets slain! But - oh God, it was far too easy to blend, and after I met you. . ." Sobs errupted throughout her body.

His first reaction was anger - she hadn't told them who she truly was in the first place, but it was obviously eating her up. He also couldn't stand to see her so damned sad, and she _had_ told him. "Jenny," his voice was soft, as he wanted it to be. "Or Janna. . .Whatever it is you're calling yourself - come here. . ." He pulled her into a hug. He just didn't want her to feel so bad, and that pain in his chest was growing.

She struggled at first, but finally relaxed into the hug, still crying relentlessly. She continued from where she left off, "After I met you. . .I wanted my disguise to be my - my true identity."

He stroked her hair softly, trying to soothe her. "Ssh. It can be if you make it that way." He rubbed her back, holding her. He would make it okay for her, if he had to stay all night, he would make it okay.

"You sh-should hate me ri-right now."

Gently, he tilted her head up to look at him. He caught her eyes - God, was she beautiful. "But I don't." He cautiously raised a hand to her cheek, not wanting to frighten her, and gently stroked her tears away with his thumb. At least he was suave enough and wasn't nervous enough to poke her eye out, that would have killed the mood.

Call it blind passion, heat of the moment, lust, or love, but Jenny's lips ended up locked with Rupert's. When it broke, neither pulled away, but instead held on tighter to the other. They both knew that no matter what happened next, nothing would be the same.

_ _

Although they had made an obvious connection, it didn't stop them from continuing to behave awkwardly around each other - though when what appeared to be an apocalypse came up, Jenny helped Giles and the gang again, even though she nearly got sucked into the demon universe by a giant, slimy creature.

With what she'd told him, she almost expected he'd let her be sucked in, but when she called for him - he came, and then she knew he wasn't going to let who she was bother him. She was grateful.

When the kids wanted to celebrate the victory at the Bronze, the adults said they'd rather go home and call it a night - but that was far from what Jenny really wanted.

Even after the teens left, Giles stood by Jenny's side, telling her that he didn't want to go home either.

"So. . ." She looked up at him. "How about we get out of this crazy joint and have a little celebration of our own?" Her little smirk drove Giles mad.

"I might just be so inclined to take you up on that offer, Ms. Jenny Calendar."

"Or -" She seemed to change her mind. "We could stay in to celebrate. . .just as long as I'm with you."

"Not that that in itself doesn't sound appealing, but I think that impaled skeleton over there might kill the mood." Giles did find that to be a bit disturbing. He was mildly surprised when he felt Jenny wrap her hand around one of his own.

"Then we'll go elsewhere." That said, the two left the library. As they were walking down the hall leading to the school's exit, she asked, "Have I thanked you yet?"

Making eye contact, he asked, "What for?"

"For saving my life. . .especially after knowing what I am. It would have saved everyone a lot of pain if you'd just let that thing take me. . .but you didn't."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." They pushed through the school doors. "I - I care about you, Jenny. More than I have for anyone in my entire life. No matter where you come from."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Don't say that. . ."

"Why? It's true." He didn't understand her reasoning. He accepted what she was - what was wrong?

"You're going to get hurt." Letting go of his hand, she stepped away. "What am I doing?! We can't be close, Rupert, we just can't." Her eyes really seemed to be abusing themselves with tears lately, they escaped their well.

Giles made her sidestep moot as he took a step to the left, once again at her side. He captured her hand in his, looking at her hard as he felt a lump forming in his throat. "It's too late, Jenny." His voice gave away how constricted his throat was becoming. "We're already close. We can't change that."

Vision blurred from the tears, she yanked her hand out of his. "Then we end it." She couldn't bear to look into his eyes, which of itself questioned her readiness to execute her suggested action. "Tonight, we end it. Summer's coming. I'll - I'll leave Sunnydale and won't come back."

Her words broke his heart, even though he didn't believe she was brave enough to follow through with her statement. The mere idea was painful enough. "Jenny." His voice was a whisper, that being all he could manage. "Don't do this to me."

Forcing herself to at least raise her eyes to the level of his face, she softly and painstakingly lifted a hand to caress his cheek. "You saved me tonight, Rupert. Let me save you." She let her hand slip away and started walking off, alone.

After standing still, shell-shocked for a moment, Giles ran after her. If it were under a normal circumstance in which he wouldn't have known what to say, he would have played the its-dangerous-to-be-out-alone-this-late card, but it wasn't a normal circumstance. The card title did, at the time, ring true, however. When he caught up to her he placed his hands on her shoulders and spun her to face him. If it weren't for the pain in his eyes, his expression would have been scary. "Jenny, you are going to stop for a moment and listen quietly!" His tone was one usually reserved for situations in which he was the figure of authority, and someone had broken a rule. What was said next was rhetorical, "Have you considered that I don't _want_ to be saved? Did that cross your mind?" His voice was losing its edge, which was probably preferable in the delicate conversation. "I don't need to be saved from you. I care about you a lot, more than what's good for me. You can't leave. Leaving would hurt me more than anything you could do to me while staying. Maybe you're right - maybe I shouldn't care this much, and should hate you with every fiber of my being. But I don't. In fact, you've got me feeling the complete opposite, and I'm falling in love with you!" The last five words came out a shout.

Time froze as the two digested what had just been said, the latter sentence taking the most time to comprehend. Once the information overload was swallowed, time resumed.

Jenny flung herself onto him, more emotions coursing through her than she knew what to do with.

As Giles hugged her tightly, not stumbing with the weight in ther slightest, a tear of his own trickled out his eye. That had been too close of a call for his own comfort. He rubbed her back in slow, soothing circles as she released her sobs.

He supposed he'd already known, but recent events confirmed she was far too precious to lose. Swaying her gently, he held her closer, continuing to do so until her crying ceased.

"I'm so sorry," came Jenny's broken apology. "I thought it was the best solution."

"I know."

"But I -" She was going to add, '_did_ hurt you,' but she was silenced by his kiss. It was long, a bit sloppy, and heavily passionate.

When the kiss had broken, Jenny confessed, I have been falling in love with you since the day I first met you."

Suddenly, everything about her just slid into place in Giles' mind. Everything clicked. That was why she kept trying to push him away - that was why she had been crying that one day: The guilt of her secret ate at her and she didn't think he could possibly return the feelings if he knew who she really was. When she still received his compassion, she almost went into denial. Maybe she had meant him, to some extent, when she was talking about getting hurt, but that was what she was afraid of herself. Afraid that he wouldn't be able to take it, and would leave. "Jenny. . ." He took her hands, which now felt frozen due to the frigid air. "I know why you're so scared now, I get it. I will never run from you. You are quite possibly the best thing that's happened to me after I departed England. I could never hurt someone special enough to make me feel this way."

It was getting colder and darker. He hugged her again to give her warmth, and silently lead her back to the school's parking lot to his car. His only objective was to get her out of the cold. Since the car was old and couldn't exceed 40 miles, he kept a hand in hers while he drove. He wasn't thinking about where they were going, just drove.

"Rupert?"

He squeezed her hand to show that he was listening.

"Thank you."

_ _

Months passed, and despite all the craziness and demonic possessions, the two continued growing closer. Their relationship became obvious to everyone at the high school, and sometimes each respective party would get teased, though that didn't change anything. They had crossed the point of no return and had fallen heavily into a deep love. Any fear that Jenny still had about them vanished.

It was a bright, sunny day when it happened. Giles and Jenny were taking a walk through an off-campus park during their lunch hour. Their arms were linked and she had her head resting on his shoulder.

"Beautiful day," Rupert observed.

"Yeah." She smiled. A couple seconds passed and she spotted a bench. Still linked with him, she headed over to it. "I think I'll sit down and enjoy it."

He couldn't have formed a more perfect plan. It was hard to hold back the smile that would give away his thinking as her arm slipped from his and she sat on the bench. The sunlight caught her hair just right, giving him a visual of perfect beauty before him, to match the perfect flow of events. As he knelt on one knee, he saw her eyes widen and light up in anticipation, which made it hard for him to keep a straight face.

Reaching into his pants pocket, he slowly produced a small box. "Ms. Jennifer Calendar," Popping the box open, he revealed a simple but beautiful diamond ring. "Will you marry me?" He let his smile show.

Tears of happiness had been streaking down her cheeks before he finished the question. "Yes!" Her voice was choked, never in her wildest dreams had she thought they could take the final step. It was hard to restrain herself from leaping on him as she felt him slide the ring onto her finger. As soon as she felt it was far up as it could go, she tackled him in a hug.

They shared a loving kiss that lingered even after they'd broken it. Staying in an embrace until the time came to head back to the school, they were both happy.

To make the day better, when all the students noticed the ring Ms. Calendar was wearing that she hadn't been before lunch, all the teasing came to a peaceful stop.


End file.
